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Spud Gun
A spud gun or potato gun is a small toy gun used to fire a fragment of potato. To operate, one punctures the surface of a potato with the gun's hollow tip and pries out a small pellet which fits in the muzzle. Squeezing the grip causes a small build-up of air pressure inside the toy which propels the projectile. The devices are usually short-range and low-powered. Early history The first spud gun was invented during the Great Depression. The original inventor sold his patent to E. Joseph Cossman for US$600 after World War II. Cossman, the brother-in-law of "Uncle" Milton Levine, sold two million spud guns in six months as a result of an advertising campaign.''E. Joseph Cossman obituary'' ''Los Angeles Times'' December 19, 2002 In Mexico City a company named WELCO created a similar model of a spud gun with a metallic appearance. Tomas Welch, a Mexican Jewish chemical engineer, developed a spud gun named "TIRA PAPAS" (Spanish for "potato shooter"). See also *BB gun *Slingshot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toy Gun
Toy guns are toys which imitate gun, real guns, but are designed for recreational sport or casual play by children. From hand-carved wooden replicas to factory-produced pop guns and cap guns, toy guns come in all sizes, prices and materials such as wood, metal, plastic or any combination thereof. Many newer toy guns are brightly colored and oddly shaped to prevent them from being mistaken for real firearms. Types Wooden guns Wooden guns are made to resemble real guns. Often handmade, these toys may or may not have metal parts and are made with various levels of detail. Suction cup darts Suction cup dart toy pistols are made to resemble real pistols, used to fire one suction cup Dart (missile), dart. Rubber band guns Rubber band guns are toy guns used to fire one or more rubber bands (or "elastic bands"). Rubber band guns are often used in live-action games such as Assassins (game), Assassins, in which they are common and popular toy weapons. They are also common in offices ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potato
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile. Genetic studies show that the cultivated potato has a single origin, in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia. Potatoes were domesticated there about 7,000–10,000 years ago from a species in the '' S. brevicaule'' complex. Many varieties of the potato are cultivated in the Andes region of South America, where the species is indigenous. The Spanish introduced potatoes to Europe in the second half of the 16th century from the Americas. They are a staple food in many parts of the world and an integral part of much of the world's food supply. Following millennia of selective breeding, there are now over 5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and business failures around the world. The economic contagion began in 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world, with the devastating Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929 often considered the beginning of the Depression. Among the countries with the most unemployed were the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Weimar Republic, Germany. The Depression was preceded by a period of industrial growth and social development known as the "Roaring Twenties". Much of the profit generated by the boom was invested in speculation, such as on the stock market, contributing to growing Wealth inequality in the United States, wealth inequality. Banks were subject to laissez-faire, minimal regulation, resulting in loose lending and wides ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milton Levine
Milton Martin Levine (November 3, 1913 – January 16, 2011) was an American entrepreneur who was the co-founder of Uncle Milton Toys. Biography He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 3, 1913, to Harry and Mary Levine. As a young boy, Levine collected ants in a jar at his uncle's farm in Pennsylvania. During World War II, he served in the European Theatre where his engineer unit built bridges in France and Germany. While in France, he met his future wife Mauricette Schneider, a citizen of the country, and they married in 1945. With his wife, he fathered one son and two daughters, all of whom he eventually put through college with the proceeds from his business. After the war he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law E. Joseph Cossman and entered the then-new world of plastic and the toy industry that was predicted as a growth industry. The duo made arrangements with Nosco Plastics, a division of National Organ Supply, that also manufactured the plastic priz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BB Gun
A BB gun is a type of air gun designed to shoot metallic spherical projectiles called BBs (not to be confused with similar-looking bearing balls), which are approximately the same size as BB-size lead birdshot used in shotguns ( in diameter). Modern BB guns usually have a smoothbore barrel with a caliber, and use steel balls that measure in diameter and in weight, usually zinc- or copper- plated for corrosion resistance. Some manufacturers still make the slightly larger traditional lead balls that weigh around , which are generally intended for use in rifled barrels (because lead is more malleable and exerts less wear on riflings). The term "BB gun" is frequently used colloquially to describe airsoft guns, which shoot plastic pellets (also often referred to as "BBs") that are larger (usually in diameter) but much less dense than metal BBs, and have significantly lower ballistic performance. The term is also sometimes used to describe a pellet gun, which shoots d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slingshot
A slingshot or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two tubes or strips made from either a natural rubber or synthetic elastic material. These are attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pouch that holds the projectile. One hand holds the frame, while the other hand grasps the pocket and draws it back to the desired extent to provide power for the projectile—up to a full span of the arms with sufficiently long bands. Other names include catapult (United Kingdom), peashooter (United States), gulel (India), (South Africa), or ging, shanghai, pachoonga (Australia and New Zealand) Use and history Slingshots depend on strong Elasticity (physics), elastic materials for their projectile firepower, typically vulcanization, vulcanized natural rubber or the equivalent such as silicone rubber tubing, and thus date no earlier than the invention of vulcanized rubber by Charles Goodyear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
